China's Influence on Conflict Dynamics in South Asia

USIP Senior Study Group on China and South Asia Launches Final Report

China’s expanding presence in South Asia is reshaping the region, and along the way exacerbating tensions in regional politics and U.S.-China relations from the Himalayan mountains to the Indian Ocean. As the United States works to fulfill its vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region and to respond to a more assertive China, the final report from USIP’s bipartisan Senior Study Group (SSG) on China and South Asia serves as a road map for the next U.S. administration to advance the Indo portion of that vision.

The SSG’s final report—the fourth in a series—examines China’s influence in South Asian conflict zones and fragile states from a variety of angles. Drawing on the insights of the group’s senior experts, former policymakers, and retired diplomats, the report includes top-level findings and actionable recommendations.

The co-chairs and members of the SSG discussed their work and the report’s conclusions. The conversation tackled topics such as U.S. interests in South Asia amid China’s growing role, Beijing’s interests in and approach toward the region, China-Pakistan relations, China-India relations, and China’s relations with the smaller South Asian states.

Speakers:

Jennifer Staats
Director of East and Southeast Asia Programs, U.S. Institute of Peace; USIP China Senior Study Group Series Executive Director

Richard G. Olson
Senior Advisor, United States Institute of Peace; Co-Chair, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

Randall G. Schriver
Chairman of the Board, The Project 2049 Institute; Co-Chair, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

Alyssa Ayres
Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations; Member, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

Patrick Cronin
Asia-Pacific Security Chair, Hudson Institute; Member, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

Sameer Lalwani
Senior Fellow and Director of the South Asia Program, Stimson Center; Member, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

Anja Manuel
Co-Founder and Partner, Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC; Member, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

Daniel Markey
Senior Research Professor in International Relations, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies; Member, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

Tamanna Salikuddin
Director of South Asia Programs, United States Institute of Peace; Member, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

Vikram J. Singh
Senior Advisor, Asia Center, United States Institute of Peace; Member, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

Jacob Stokes
Senior Policy Analyst, China Program, U.S. Institute of Peace; Project Director, USIP China-South Asia Senior Study Group

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The United States Institute of Peace is a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical, and essential for U.S. and global security. In conflict zones abroad, the Institute works with local partners to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict. To reduce future crises and the need for costly interventions, USIP works with governments and civil societies to help their countries solve their own problems peacefully. The Institute provides expertise, training, analysis, and support to those who are working to build a more peaceful, inclusive world.

[tstanmoysamanta]

wow, this guy criticizing India for democracy on a discussion about China's influence on South asia.

[khanbarech]

So if a country is prioritizing its interests - whats wrong with that? CPEC not only provides economic stability but also it will help protect Pakistan from Indian open aggression. Pakistan has been aligned with the west from the past 6 decades, but nothing tangible has been achieved. Now it’s time to change course and provide reall economic stability and job opportunities !!

[ottomanempire]

India was really a very progressive and peaceful state of the region in the recent past. But today, she is the most confused-state on the surface of the earth, tangled between secularism and Hinduism. Therefore, India, as a nation, is facing all sorts of paradoxes and double standards. The great values of the Indian society are lost in the ditches and quagmires of Hinduism which is leading fast towards the disintegration of the Indian state. India has become the very hub of terrorism because the fundamental beliefs of Hindu religion is imposed and propagated, without taking care of the minorities amongst them. India, as a state, has detached itself from the democratic norms, human values and human rights, where state-sponsored terrorism is increasing with every passing day, where democracy is idealized and recommended for theoretical purposes only. But for practical purposes, the idea of “India of the Hindus, for the Hindus and by the Hindus” is promoted in the society. So, Indian state and Indian society may rightly be regarded as two different things, moving in two different directions. Theoretically, India is the greatest democracy of the world, based on the ideology of secularism. But practically democracy is not known in the social fabric of the society and Hinduism is propagated by the ruling elites of India, therefore, the state and the society are distancing themselves from the minorities of the country. This alienation between the state and the minorities is increasing day by day. In short, the standard for the judgment of character of a citizen is his religion, not the contents of his behavior. This situation is very alarming in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious state where there are more than two hundred millions Muslims, more than two hundred millions Dalits and other low castes, more than thirty two millions Christians, more than twenty one millions Sikhs and more than eight millions Jains etc. Indian is in a state of continuous chaos where there are tens of nations living together but national security paradigms and national integrations are not known to the intelligentsia of this country, where secularism is recommended by the founding fathers but Hinduthwa extremism is promoted by the ruling party, where national policies (New legislations for farmers) and legal reforms (Citizen Amendment Act is enacted against Muslims.) are legislated solely in the interests of the Hindus by the Hindu extremists and the interests of the minorities are totally crushed under the very eyes of the supreme judiciary of the country. The worst scenario of all these negative factors is the Hindu-religion itself which is divided in four castes but the caste system is not based on the equality of all sects but struggling between the two extremes of high caste (Brahmins) and low-caste (Shooders and Dalits), where Brahmins have been exploiting the lower castes of the society for centuries under the guise of “Divine Right of the King”. So the equality of citizens has been replaced by the superiority of Brahmins and the fruits of democracy are reserved for a selected few. India may rightly be regarded as a great forest where might is always right, where cows are not allowed to be slaughtered but human beings are butchered on daily basis, where Muslims and other citizens are killed for the mere slaughtering of a cow. India is a great mire of human rights, human civilization and democratic values, where equal rights of all citizens is a mere dream for the minorities and low caste, where mosques (Babri Mosque) and temples (Golden Temple) are ruined by the mob-processions and state-sponsored terrorists and then permitted and legalized by the supreme court of the country but the extreme beliefs of the mandirs are allowed to be propagated to the majority of the Indian society, where secular ideals and ideologies are overshadowed by Hinduthwa extremism, where Modi and Yogi are leading the nation, without having any qualification of ruling one of the largest states of the world. Their only qualification is their hatred for the minorities, particularly their scorns for Muslims and Sikhs. Indian society is further polarized by the attitude of the present racist-government, which is promoting racial discriminations on every level, where BJP, Shew Sena and RSS are regarded as the ideal political parties just because they are handling everything on the religious grounds but without having any sense of democracy and equality in a polarized society, where Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Shooders, Dalits and other Low Castes are humiliated on daily basis, not because they are belonging to another race or another society but because they are professing another religion.
In such a state of affairs, a huge majority of Indian citizens are aliens in their own country, reluctant to interact with their countrymen. India is on the verge of collapse, where eight to ten nations are struggling for their freedom and national identity, including Kashmir, Asam, Nagaland and Khalistan etc, where election are rigged and manipulated on the basis of animosity with Pakistan and China. ISI and Chinese intelligence agencies are depicted as a potential threat to the national identity of India. It seems as if the whole nation has been kidnaped by the fundamental ideologies of Gulwalker. Today, almost all the basic and fundamental factors of the Hindu state are moving in the wrong direction and these developments are taking place under the very eyes of a national state which are not only harmful to the state of India itself but to the entire region as well. Such a state is bound to be disintegrated. The doom and gloom of the state is very clear and near now. The sooner the Indian minorities break up these bonds and shackles of Indian nationalism the better. Khalistan Zindabad